South Beach Crosswalk Scofflaws

Everyone who moves on Miami Beach, regardless of the form of transportation, has a pet peeve about traffic scofflawry. Mine as a pedestrian is drivers who park in crosswalks while waiting for a red light to change or to make a turn.

Guaranteed that the law will not be enforced by the police department even if the violation occurs right in front of a officer, who may himself disregard the law with impunity because the police department is understaffed and has better things to do than enforce trivial laws.

I understand that drivers may stop in a crosswalk at a stop signal because otherwise they cannot see oncoming traffic. But to do so when unnecessary as a matter of habit and without consideration for pedestrians is inexcusable.

I encountered a very bad example this morning. The driver was eating and talking to his passenger as she was preoccupied with something on her lap, perhaps her cell. It was as if they were in their living room, and could care less about anything outside.

I could not resist taking a few pictures of this typical behavior inasmuch as the license tag included the word BAD.